Wasted Life (A Collection Of Stories)

After The Party

This is a story I wrote for school, It's really short but if I ever decide to make this story longer I'll definitely post it here.

It happened long ago… But she still keeps dreaming about it … And she’s still not happy…

Waking up to the sound of rain outside her window, Jess mentally groaned before getting out of the warmth that had gathered under the duvet. Picking up her phone she checked her Facebook notifications- Yes, people, none of us have windows!- she was bombarded with statuses like OMG! Rain! and Emotionally breaking down when you see the rain. Combing out her sun-set locks, Jess brewed herself a cup of coffee and after a few bites of toast she decided on the accessories she was going to wear to school- The school cares more about our uniform than our education!- small butter-fly earrings with Swarovski crystals and matching bracelet- Honey, you sparkle.

Seconds later, her best friend was strutting through Jess’ front door- having made herself a key without informing anyone. Wonder what Miss will think when she finds her car wrapped up in cling-film- Jess already knew the plan of Georgia’s prank and already knew that it will get them suspended for at least a week.

‘’Are you coming or not?’’ Whined Georgia -bursting through Jess’ door, after school had finally finished. Rules are rules- if there’s a party- Gee goes, if Gee goes- I go.

‘’Do I have a choice? You’re going to drag me down there anyway.’’ Jess knew her best friend like the back of her hand and in preparation covered herself with a pillow- Three.

‘’You make me sound like such a bad person!’’ Georgia joked, ‘’Do you even know who Tom Larson is?’’ Taking Jess’ silence as a no, Georgia continued, ‘’only the most popular guy in Oakwood! Jess, we spend six hours trapped in the prison that we like to call Strangeways but for the common public it’s known as St Monica’s High School for Girls. And when we finally have a chance to live and go to a party thrown by the cutest guy in the all-boys school just across the road and round the corner from ours, you don’t want to go? I haven’t raised you right!’’ Of course Georgia’s nagging was only making Jess hate the party even more but she knew she would have to go anyway- Two.

‘’All right, I’ll go, but only because I know you’ll get really drunk and someone will need to take you home.’’ One- Georgia clapped her hands in joy and jumped on top of Jess who was scrawled across her own bedroom floor.

‘’We are going to have such fun!’’ Georgia screamed down Jess’ ear, ‘’Gasp! The party is, like, two days away and we don’t know what to wear!’’

‘’Why do you always say ‘Gasp’ instead of actually gasping?’’  But Georgia ignored her friend’s question, and pulled her downstairs to get their things and go shopping-Yay! Shopping! Not.

Admiring her reflection in the mirror, Jess couldn’t help but feel guilty- she used her father’s money to buy the insanely expensive- the most amazing- blue dress. She was feeling guilty because she knew that she was only going to wear the dress once and her mother would make her feel even worse by reminding her how many dresses- dresses, tops, hats, skirts, shoes…-  she already bought and never wore twice.

‘’Jess! Are you ready yet?’’ Came her father’s booming voice, ‘’you do rem

ember the last time you were late to pick Georgia up?!’’ Do I  ever- the last time Georgia moaned how now they were going to be really late and not fashionably late all of the way to the party, then on the way back she moaned how Jess’ father drove too fast and they were early- not Oh! Are we early?- early but We just really didn’t want to be a minute late-early. Either way- it’s a lot easier to just do how Georgia says.

‘’Jay-Jay!’’ Shouted Jess’ best friend while climbing inside the black SUV. ‘’You’re on time! For once, but still! I’m so, so, SO excited! I mean, like, how many people are going to be there?! Like, loads! I mean Tom’s house is even bigger than yours! It has a farm! How cool is that!’’ She kept blabbering on like that the whole of the car journey; Jess only groaned and had her head resting against the window- She’s your friend, Jess, just because you know where Papa’s gun is doesn’t mean you use it.  ‘’We’re here!’’ Squealed Georgia and got out of the car as fast as possible.

Once inside, Georgia clung on to Jess like she was a life jacket, Jess wondered if it was stupid to tell her dad that Georgia’s dad was picking them up- Gee will get wasted, I know she will-  and the opposite to Georgia’s dad.

The party turned out better than she expected, Tom- He’s so not as stuck up and as fake as the girls crowding him- turned out to be really sweet and take a liking in her- And he was looking and winked a few times. Georgia did get drunk but she had Lewis take her home- which saved Jess a lot of hassle.

Just after leaving the party, she called her brother and arranged to meet him by a fish and chip shop, few minutes away from her house. Being in heels, it was hard to walk fast and she was a whole three minutes late for the bus.  She waited another ten for a different bus that unfortunately turned a corner another twenty before the chip-shop.

‘’Hey, yeah, I caught the other one. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. OK… Bye.’’ Why does he always have to be so protective?! Fair enough there are some bad guys out there but nothing like that’s going to happen to me.

She felt someone staring at her; out of the corner of her eye- she noticed a group of guys behind her-I jinxed it! The guys were all wearing black hoodies with their hoods up, she began walking a little bit faster to get a bit further away from the guys, and Jess could already see the light- Just a bit more! Stupid heels! - coming from the chip-shop window pour out into the dark street.

Suddenly one of the guys grabbed her by the wrist, another screamed for her to give him her bag. Out of nowhere, appeared her brother- Russo! - and tried to fight the guys off. 

It all seemed like in slow motion- one of the guys got out a gun and pulled the trigger, one, two, three and the bullet hit its target-Russo. Jess screamed tears pouring down her face- the murderers were nowhere to be seen.  She stayed there, crying. She knew there was no use calling an ambulance, the bullet hit him right in the heart.

She was still crying when her father came looking for the both of them- unlike Jess he didn’t break down he called the police straight away.  

‘’They killed him! They killed my brother! They’re murderers! They killed Russo!’’ Were the last words Jess managed to choke out before communication started to seem unimportant.

Jess’ life passed on day by day- school, psychiatrist appointments, bed, school, psychiatrist, bed and so on. She thought no more, she spoke no more, she became a ghost but as much as she wished she could disappear and go to wherever Russo went, when his life was cruelly take by the cold-blooded creatures, she could not bring herself to it. She took pills up to her room- only to put them back- she searched for a hook that would suit best- only to find that she didn’t have a good enough rope- even tried drowning- only to be terrified of letting go.

She could not get over what she saw, she dreamt of it every night and woke up with tears in her eyes.  She swore she would never go to a party again and that she would never get that bus again, she swore to make the killers pay- only she didn’t know how.

Every night she would stay up listening to the sounds of the silent streets, listening for gun shots. She was never able to think about anything else but those guys in black hoodies, so much that every time she saw a resemblance of one of them she would scream and attack them.

 But that was a while ago now, now Jess’ never leaves the corner-less room she moved into when her family moved to a different town- a town where nobody knew them.  Rarely her mother would bring her food; the food would always be something for babies and would always come with a plastic spoon and in a plastic bowl.

She never went out of her room; after all she had everything she needed- a bathroom, and a TV- which she never watched- even a few books but she never read them. Jess’ mind was always preoccupied with thoughts of revenge- revenge on the murderers.

Since the murder of her brother, Jess’ life was never the same again and she was never the same again.